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THE
RIGHTS OF PARENTS
Respect of parents is
a primary and sacred obligation. If you do not respect your
parents, you are disobeying God Almighty. Those who treat
their parents badly eventually are treated badly by others.
From the very moment of conception, a growing and developing
child is a care and responsibility for its parents. One cannot
estimate the depth of attachment and compassion parents feel
for their children, or calculate the troubles and hardships
they endure because of them. For this reason, respecting parents
is a debt of human gratitude as well as a religious obligation.
Those who value their parents and regard them as a means to
obtain God’s mercy are the most prosperous in both worlds.
Those who regard their parents’ existence as a burden or who
become weary of them inevitably suffer the most severe hardship
in life.
The more you respect your parents, the greater the respect
and awe you feel before your Creator. If you do not feel and
show respect to your parents, this means that you feel no
fear, awe, or respect toward God. Yet, it is a curious thing
today that both those who disrespect God and those who claim
they love God disobey their parents.
Children should respect and obey their parents as much as
possible. Parents should give as much importance to their
children’s moral and spiritual education as they do to their
physical growth and health, and should entrust them to the
care of the most honorable teachers and guides. How ignorant
and careless are those parents who neglect their children’s
moral and spiritual training, and how unfortunate are the
children who experience such neglect are so victimized.
Children who are inconsiderate of their parents’ rights and
disobey them are “monsters derived from a deteriorated human
being.” Parents who do not secure their children’s moral and
spiritual welfare also are merciless and cruel. Most brutish
and pitiless of all are parents who paralyze their children’s
moral and spiritual development after their children have
found their way to human perfection.
Families form a society’s foundation. The reciprocal respect
of rights and obligations within a family results in a healthy
and strong society. When such familial relationships disappear,
the society loses its compassion and respect for others.
 
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